The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Tripoli

A bomb blast targeting the Lebanese army killed nine soldiers and five civilians in the northern city of Tripoli on Wednesday in the deadliest attack in the troubled country in three years.

The bombing, which left a child among the dead, came just hours before President Michel Sleiman began a landmark visit to Syria and the day after Lebanon's new national unity cabinet won parliamentary approval. At least 40 people were also wounded in the blast that ripped through a shopping street in the heart of the Mediterranean port city during morning rush hour, a security official said.